Rod Phillips resigns as Ontario finance minister after returning from holiday vacation

TORONTO — Ontario’s finance minister resigned from his cupboard situation Thursday, hrs immediately after returning from a Caribbean vacation amid a provincewide lockdown.



a close up of a man wearing a blue shirt


© Supplied by The Canadian Press


Rod Phillips travelled to St. Barts on Dec. 13 even with provincial guidelines urging persons to steer clear of all non-essential vacation.

Premier Doug Ford announced the finance minister’s resignation in a prepared assertion.

“At a time when the persons of Ontario have sacrificed so significantly, today’s resignation is a demonstration that our govt will take seriously our obligation to hold ourselves to a better standard,” Ford mentioned.

The leading said he has asked Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy to believe the purpose of minister of finance and produce the government’s 2021 Budget.

“This appointment will aid be certain financial security in the months forward, as we guidance Ontario family members, personnel and organizations by way of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as we chart our path to very long-expression financial restoration,” Ford reported.

Upon his arrival at Toronto Pearson Worldwide Airport on Thursday morning, Phillips instructed reporters he wanted to keep on as finance minister.

“There is incredibly vital function that continue to wants to be accomplished, and I would like to keep on to be a section of that. But I do recognize, men and women are indignant, they should have to be angry, I have to get paid again their confidence,” he explained.

Ford reported Wednesday he initial learned about the journey shortly following Phillips arrived in St. Barts. He explained he should have asked the finance minister to instantly return to Ontario, but he didn’t — contacting it a blunder. 

Phillips, who will continue to be a member of the provincial legislature, stated Thursday that he regrets his final decision. 

“It was a significant mistake in judgment, a dumb, dumb miscalculation,” Phillips claimed. “Once more, I apologize for it, I regret it, but all I can do now is make that apology and move forward.”

In a assertion released following his resignation Thursday, Phillips all over again explained he regretted his final decision to journey more than the holidays.

“I at the time again offer you my unreserved apology,” he reported. 

Ontario’s new finance minister was sworn in to no fanfare at the provincial legislature Thursday afternoon. He fulfilled the province’s lieutenant governor for a transient closed-doorway ceremony that lasted all around 20 minutes.

As he remaining, Bethlenfalvy did not right tackle Phillips’ resignation or the achievable effect it could have on the government’s public wellness messaging.

“We’ll have far more to say afterwards,” he explained. “We’re all heading to operate challenging on behalf of the individuals of Ontario.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath criticized Ford for his function in the leadup to Phillips’ resignation.

“Doug Ford realized about Rod Phillips’ trip to St. Barts two weeks back,” she explained in a assertion. “Not only did Ford not fireplace him then, he assisted him continue to keep the trip a mystery. Phillips’ resignation from cupboard today is not due to the fact of Phillips’ holiday, it’s simply because they received caught.”

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca stated Phillips was proper to resign for “deceiving Ontarians for months” but requested what consequences Ford will facial area for the problem.

“Doug Ford admittedly knew about Phillips’ vacation for two months and did absolutely nothing to stop it,” he mentioned in a assertion. “He shares as significantly blame as Phillips, and he needs to be held accountable for it.”

Green get together Chief Mike Schreiner said there should be accountability for Phillips’ “deliberate disregard” for community overall health policies.

“There shouldn’t be a person rulebook for the Ford governing administration, and a diverse rulebook for everybody else,” he stated.

Toronto Mayor John Tory, who has acknowledged and been a political ally of Phillips for many a long time, named his actions “mistaken”.

“As finance minister, Mr. Phillips was a good, supportive partner for the City of Toronto but, as he has acknowledged, his recent regrettable steps were being erroneous and call for this stage of accountability,” Tory explained in a statement.

Phillips, 55, entered community lifetime in 2017 when he was acclaimed as the Progressive Conservative prospect for the Ontario driving of Ajax.

He briefly contemplated a operate for the management of the get together after then chief Patrick Brown resigned in early 2018 but as a substitute backed Caroline Mulroney, who sooner or later shed to Ford.

Phillips received a seat in the legislature afterwards that calendar year and was appointed environment minister as the new governing administration dismantled the former Liberal’s cap-and-trade local weather change approach.

He was tasked with rolling out the province’s controversial new tactic to cut down greenhouse gas emissions that slide. 

Prior to entering politics, Phillips was the CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, and chairman of newspaper publisher Postmedia.

He also served as chief of staff to previous Progressive Conservative labour minister Elizabeth Witmer and former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman.

This report by The Canadian Press was to start with released Dec. 31, 2020.

Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press